Country’s export earnings from the United States and the United Kingdom rebounded strongly in July, the first month of the current financial year 2017-18, after witnessing a decline in recent months. Bangladesh’s export earnings from the US and the UK grew by 18.86 per cent and 39.53 per cent respectively in July, according to the Export Promotion Bureau data. Exporters said shipment of some seasonal products at a time and good trend in export orders were the factors in the rebound of the earnings from the two major countries. Export earnings from the US, the largest export destination for Bangladesh, in July of FY18 increased to $501.24 million from $421.72 million posted in the same month of FY17, according to the EPB data. Earnings from the readymade garment export to the US market in the first month of the FY18 grew by 15.84 per cent to $447.47 million from $386.26 million in the same period of FY17. Earnings from the UK, the 3rd largest export destination for Bangladesh, rose to $346.65 million from $248.43 million. RMG export to the UK grew by 38.71 per cent to $322.36 million from $232.40 million. Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of the Exporters Association of Bangladesh, told New Age that the high growth in export data after months of negative growth was the reflection of shipment of a good number of consignments of seasonal products at a time to the US and the UK. Overcoming the tremendous pressure of workplace safety and factory remediation, the country’s RMG sector is going to achieve international standards and gaining confidence of global buyers, he said. Salam, also former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said export orders increased in recent times as the number of factories certified by the global buyers’ groups — Accord and Alliance — were increasing with additional production capacity. The EPB data showed that export earnings from Germany, the 2nd largest destination, in July of FY18 grew by 16.53 per cent to $460.13 million from $394.86 posted in the same month of FY17. Export earnings from France increased by 10.41 per cent to $152.26 million from $137.90 million.From Spain, the earnings grew by 57.51 per cent to $202.83 million from $172.60 million.Export earnings from Italy in July of FY18 rose by 19.55 per cent to $122.35 million from $102.34 million in the same period of FY17. The earnings from the Netherlands grew by 46.13 per cent to $108.39 million from $74.17 million. Export earnings from Japan in July of FY18 increased by 3.09 per cent to $78.98 million from $76.61 million in the same period of FY17. RMG export to Japan in the month of July of FY18, however, fell by 11.32 per cent to $50.46 million from $56.91 million in the same period of FY17. To Belgium, RMG export fell by 7 per cent to $66.39 million from $71.40 million. Export to China in the month of July of FY18 grew by 324.91 per cent to $268.05 million from $63.08 million in the same period of FY17, riding on the export of boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances. Exports of boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances in the first month of FY18 increased to $155.08 million from $0.91 million in the same month of FY17. Export earnings from India in July of FY18 fell by 11.86 per cent to $47.20 million from $53.56 million in the same period of FY17. BGMEA vice-president Mahmud Hassan Khan Babu said that the export earnings growth showed an upward trend in July as a good number of consignments prepared before Eid-ul-Fitr (June) were shipped in the month of July. He, however, said that export orders were also good in recent months, which started to reflect in the data.
